Another tip is to see what sort of work programs your local CSA has. Mine allows you to work picking crops, etc. in exchange for that week’s share, so I get a CSA share for free! And it’s the same share that others are paying an arm and a leg for! And I get to play in the dirt!

Products’ dates vary. Some are sell-by dates, others are use-by dates. If the store is cutting price because the sell-by date is near, then you have more time than you might think to use that food. For food in my home I trust my eyes and my nose more than printed dates; can’t do that in the store, though – they look askance if you open the milk carton to smell it.

BTW, did you know that with the expection of meat/dairy, use-by and sell-by dates are voluntary and therefore there are no standards of what the date should be? Keep that in mind when throwing out a can because of the date printed on it. There’s nothing to stop a company from using dates to get us to buy more often than we need to.

I’ve read the Prudent Homemaker’s full website and yes, she is an impressive preserver of food with a very strong work ethic.

Half of my trees are espaliered on the walls. All but 2 of my trees (the pomegranate and fig ae the exceptions) are semi-dwarf and dwarf trees, which allows me more variety in the space I have. I water my garden (including my trees) with drip irrigation. Water IS expensive here, but most of my bill is over the grass. I have 6 children and we homeschool, so they get a lot of use out of that grass!

You can plant backberries in shady and semi-shady spots.

That’s the ONE thing that really just bothers me about Roundy’s, I mean, really gets under my skin. Okay, that and their 5 coupons per order doubling policy, but it’s really just so wasteful that they throw food out. I know plenty of people who’d really be thankful for either marked down food or food pantries that would benefit. Perhaps we should write a letter to them….a petition brought doubles back, maybe it could change their corporate waste policy.

I just had to comment – I’m just tired of people on the interwebz coming down on bloggers because they (the blogger) don’t eat perfectly healthy or like the commenter does. Personally, I’d rather NOT eat cooked greens – we just never ate them growing up (green salads were abundant instead), but I’m not going to get down on someone for liking them! Same goes for “fun” foods – I know it isn’t healthy, but yeah…the occasional bowl of Rotel and Velveeta graces our table for a fun snack. And I don’t care what people think; I’m too busy living life, and enjoying what God’s blessed me with.

Also, milk does freeze rather well if you ever find a wonderful markdown. I’ve done it many times and have never had issues other than needing to use it within the same number of days once it thaws. Then you can make yogurt in a week or two when you need to.

Heather